Movers & shakers

European Voice

11/19/08, 5:00 PM CET

Updated 4/23/14, 8:50 PM CET

Žiga Turk has been appointed secretary-general of the Reflection Group on the future of the EU, which is being led by Felipe Gonzáles, the former prime minister of Spain. Turk is currently minister without portfolio in the Slovenian government, responsible for issues affecting economic growth, but will leave this post when Slovenia’s new government, led by Borut Pahor, is sworn in on 21 November. Turk is also a professor at the faculty of civil and geodetic engineering at the University of Ljubljana. The reflection group is expected to meet for the first time in early December.

The European Commission has appointed Philippe Vannson interim executive director of the Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking (FCH). The joint undertaking is a private-public partnership (a joint technology initiative) set up by the EU to advance research and development. Vannson, an official in the Commission’s directorate-general for research, was already a member of a Commission task force on FCH. The appointment of a permanent director is expected to take at least several months.

Henriette Tielemans has been appointed to a Commission expert group on data protection, it was announced on 12 November. The group, called GEX PD, has five members appointed for one-year renewable terms and is responsible for reflecting on the future of EU legislation on data protection. Tielemans is a partner with international law firm Covington and Burling LLP and is co-chair of the firm’s privacy and data security practice group.